


Bookshop Espionage

by sophh



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Coworkers - Freeform, Gen, Hermione's Haven, Hermione's Haven Roll-A-Drabble, Roll A Drabble, coworkers!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:13:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26596585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophh/pseuds/sophh
Summary: Hermione loves her new job at Bagshot & Co. Books, but she wishes she knew more about her co-worker, Remus.Written for Hermione's Haven Roll-a-Drabble, September 2020.
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Remus Lupin
Kudos: 2
Collections: Hermione's Haven Roll-A-Drabble





	Bookshop Espionage

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts: Remus Lupin, coworkers.
> 
> Shout-out to Gen (owlways_and_forever) for helping me come up with the bookshop's name!

"Good morning, Remus," Hermione said cheerfully, walking into the back room of the bookshop to deposit her bag. As she moved towards the front of the store once more, she took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the books within. She had always found the aroma to be so soothing, and today was no different. 

"Are you smelling the merchandise again, Hermione?" Remus asked, his tone light and playful. 

"Maybe," she said, her lips curving upwards in a coy smile. 

Remus laughed. "You so were." He nodded at a pile of books on the counter. "Those are the returns from yesterday. Would you mind putting them away?"

"Not at all." Hermione picked up the stack and began to reshelve the various titles. _Little Women_ , by Louisa May Alcott. A collection of novellas by H.P. Lovecraft. A biography about Winston Churchill. _The Catcher in the Rye_ , by J.D. Salinger. So many wonderful stories that hadn't enchanted someone or other. It was almost sad, really. 

She moved through the rows of shelves with ease. Though she had only been working at Bagshot & Co. Books — affectionately known by those who frequented it as "Bagshot's" — for a month, she already knew it like the back of her hand. The biographies were tucked away in a back corner with other nonfiction books, while the fiction novels were arranged alphabetically in the center of the shop. The front was reserved for the checkout counter as well as the sale table. 

Hermione finished her task within ten minutes and approached Remus to ask what she could do next. 

"I should have known you'd be finished already," he chuckled. He passed her a handheld barcode scanner. "We got an order of books in yesterday that need to be scanned into the system. They're in the back room. Can you—"

"Already on it!" Hermione said over her shoulder. 

"You're a godsend!" her co-worker called back. 

Hermione smiled to herself as she walked to the rear of the store. It felt good to have her hard work acknowledged, and Remus certainly made no secret of his appreciation, though he was otherwise a very private individual. 

Not for the first time, Hermione found herself wondering about the older man as she picked up each book and scanned it. Scanning was tedious work, so having a topic to occupy her thoughts made the time lapse more quickly. 

As far as she could tell, Remus was a book lover like herself, married, and had a son. She only knew about the latter two things because he wore a wedding ring and had once been late to work because his son had flung food at him on his way out the door. 

"Hermione?" Remus poked his head through the doorway. She set the scanner down and turned to him. 

"Yes?" 

Her co-worker twisted his hands together. "I have no doubt that you're almost finished, but...do you think you could stay back here for a little while longer? Say, fifteen minutes?" 

Hermione nodded, but her curiosity was piqued. She returned to scanning books for a few minutes more, but as soon as she was done, she sidled over to the doorway and peeked out. Remus was nowhere to be seen, so she quietly snuck between the shelves until she was near the C's in the fiction section. 

"Thanks for lunch, Dora," Remus was saying to a pink-haired woman. He took a paper bag from her and tucked it behind the counter. 

Hermione tried to get a better look at the woman that Remus was talking to. She looked younger than him, but slightly older than Hermione's twenty years. Since she had dropped off lunch for Remus and was now talking about his son — apparently named Teddy — with him, Hermione figured she must be a nanny or babysitter. 

It wasn't until Dora leaned over the checkout counter and kissed Remus that Hermione realized her error. Dora wasn't a nanny at all — she was his _wife_. 

Hermione clapped her hands over her mouth and hurried away before Remus or his wife could spot her. Remus' desire for her to remain in the back of the shop suddenly made sense, and she wished that she had complied, if only because Remus would be upset if he knew what she had done. 

Once she was safe in the rear of the store, she sank into a chair and pondered the unusual match she had just observed. Where Remus was quiet and a bit nondescript, his wife was unreserved and clearly had a unique style — the pink hair was proof enough of that. Maybe the saying that opposites attract really did have some truth to it.

A few minutes later, Remus came looking for her. "You can come out now, Hermione. Is it safe to say that you're all finished here?" 

Hermione rose and flashed him a quick smile. If Remus wanted to keep his personal life separate from his work one, she could at least try not to ruin that for him. "Yes, I'm all done." 


End file.
